Bring out the significance of GDI and GEM as components of the UN's  Human Development Report (HDR). Comment on India's relative rankings with regard to HDI and GDI.

The UN introduced two new measures of human development in the Human Development Report 1995 that highlights the status of women.
(i) Gender related Development Index (GDI)
(ii) Gender Empowerment Measures (GEM)

The GDI measures achievement in the same basic capabilities as the HDI does, but take notes of inequality in achievement between men and women. This methodology imposes a penalty for inequality. The Gem is a measure of agency. It evaluates progress in advancing women's standing in political and economic forms.

It examines the extent of equality between men and women in economic, political and decision making activities. India's ranking is 139 as compared to general HDI which is 134 for the corresponding GDI which is based on the same parameters that of HDI including penalty for any adverse differential for gender development inequality.

GDI and GEM explained

The gender-related development index (GDI), introduced in Human Development Report 1995, measures achievements in the same dimensions using the same indicators as the human development index (HDI) but captures inequalities in achievement between women and men. It is simply the HDI adjusted downward for gender inequality. The greater the gender disparity in basic human development, the lower is a country's GDI relative to its HDI.

The gender empowerment measure (GEM) reveals whether women take an active part in economic and political life. It tracks the share of seats in parliament held by women; of female legislators, senior officials and managers; and of female professional and technical workers; and the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence. Differing from the GDI, the GEM exposes inequality in opportunities in selected areas. [Source]

Explore more at Wikipedia:

• Gender Empowerment Measure
• Gender-related Development Index
• Human development index (HDI)

« Go Back to Model Answer Page